The ancient Greek city of Cyrene (in present-day Libya), where Eratosthenes was born, was founded by settlers from Thera (Santorini) on the advice of the Oracle of Delphi around 632 BC. It soon ...
Perfume, tonic – even love potion – silphium was prized by the ancient Romans, but in its success lay the seeds of its own downfall Of all the mysteries of ancient Rome, silphium is among the most ...
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How an Ancient Plant Became the World’s First Birth Control and Rome’s Love Potion. Then Went Extinct Because of It
In the 6th century BC, while Rome was still a minor city-state in the Italian peninsula, the ancient city of Cyrene flourished as one of the wealthiest places on Earth. Nestled on the North African ...
Finally, silphium was required in the bedroom, where its juice was drunk as an aphrodisiac or applied “to purge the uterus”. It may have been the first genuinely effective birth control; its ...
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